What is "meta"? How does it work?

Meta Open Data Stack Exchange is the part of the site where users discuss the workings and policies of Open Data Stack Exchange rather than discussing open data itself. It is separated from the main Q&A to reduce noise there while providing a legitimate space for people to ask how and why this site works the way it does. Meta is for...

...Open Data Stack Exchange users to communicate with each other about Open Data Stack Exchange (asking questions about how the websites work, or about policies and community decisions)

...Open Data Stack Exchange users to communicate with Stack Overflow the company (posting bugs, suggesting improvements, or proposing new features), and

...Stack Overflow the company to communicate with the community (soliciting feedback on new ideas or features, or discussing policies that affect the whole network)

Please look around to see if your question has been asked before, and avoid asking questions that have nothing to do with Open Data Stack Exchange or the Stack Exchange network. This is not a random discussion area; rather, it's a place for improving our community and website, together.

Voting is different on meta.

Like normal Stack Exchange sites, Meta allows members to vote on questions and answers. For most posts, votes reflect the perceived usefulness: well-written, well-reasoned, well-researched posts tend to get more attention and more upvotes. Highly-voted and frequently-linked posts may become part of the community-curated FAQ or codified as part of the site’s Help pages.

Unlike normal Stack Exchange sites, Meta invites the community to discuss, debate and propose changes to the way the community itself behaves, as well as how the software itself works. On posts tagged feature-request, voting indicates agreement or disagreement with the proposed change rather than just the quality or usefulness of the post itself.

If you have an account on Open Data Stack Exchange, you have an account on its meta site.

You do not need to create a separate account for meta; once you are logged in on Open Data Stack Exchange, you are also logged in and may post on its meta site.

Votes on meta do not affect your reputation; your meta reputation is the same as your reputation on Open Data Stack Exchange (synchronized hourly), though you earn separate badges. You must have 5 reputation to participate on meta.